Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-02-12

Ii is not 80 easy 10 determine where 10 send
! the following:
pr Jackson, Our Home on the Hillside. New
York
There is one clerk in the Office who remem-
| hers that tie Sanitarium at Dansville, n Y,
Is sometimes calloi Our Home on the Hill.
side" and there DR. jackson is found
Sometimes letter writers make very strangs
slips \ letter is addressed to-
Mr.. Matthew Brown, Niagara, Prat Co, Kansas.
As there is no such place as Niagara in Kan
sas. the letter Is sent to Saratoga, Prat coun-
ty, with a special request to the postmaster at
that place for information as to where mail
addressed Niagara" should be sent Matthew
Brown lives in Saratoga, the postmaster
knows him, the letter is delivered, and the
| dead letter Office in due time notified of the
fact
The ingenuity Of the emyloyes is sometimes
taxed to the utmost, aS in this letter:
Ms. Ellen Clark. care Ida NJ. Jones, Brunswick.
As there 10 no state given, this letter soon
finds its way to the dead letter Office As the
words care ida II. Jones are not directly
under the principal address, it is taken for
granted that they refer TO some sailing vessel,
and that it was sent from New York where it
was poStmarked, TO some port on the Allan
TIC coast. The only Brunswick that can be
found ON the coast Is i'll Georgia. The letter
is sent there. and Mrs. Ellen Clark receives it.
A letter addressed:
Miss Annie Gleunon. ilS st Mary's street. New
York City,
Can find neither street nor person in the
metropolis. There is no such street in New
York state. nor indeed, in any city in the
T,,1 N,,, A..
plenty of streets named St Mary, but none
named ST. Mary The letter is sent TO San
Antonio and delivered TO Miss Glennon, at
4l3 St Marys street.
A letter was addressed to
Miss VI. L Adams. care DTexel. Morgan & Co,
London, England.
Miss Adams having left London. this was
forwarded by D.exel, Morgan t Co. to her
supposed address in New York city, I'll
North Eighth street. There being no North
Eighth street in New York city, it was sent
to the dead letter office. As Eighth street,
in Philadelphia runs north and south, the
letter was sent there, and Miss Adams was
found at I'll.
Very often letters find their proper destina-
ton purely by accident. For instance. one
came 10 the Office short time ago addressed:
Miss Minnie b. Hannishan. LAUGHS Hotel, y. Y.
There happened to be IA clerk i'll the Office
who remembered that there was Iauch's
hotel at Long Branch, v J., and there the
letter found Miss Haunishan..
Perhaps the funniest incident of the kind is
connected with letter addressed:
Miss Maggie Smith. p o. Box 1872 Virginia
The postmark d this letter il New York,
and the handwriting is evidently that of a
person of culture. An expert in the dead
letter office had by chance two years pre-
viously received letter from Miss Maggie
Smith, Of Alexandria, Va, making inquiries
with regard TO a French goveTness whom she
wished to send 10 her sister in New York At
a venture the letter is sent to Miss Maggie
Smith. of Alexandria, for whom the writer
intended il.
1t seems strange that the postmaster at De
catur. Ga. should not have known where to
send letter addressed
Miss Il E Alexander, EV
But lie did not, and it came 10 the dead let
ter office. The ready witted clerk into WHOSE
hands 1t fell knew, what the postmaster did
not, that E V. stood for en- vile The letter
was returned TO Decatur, and delivered to the
addressee
Often letters are received where the writer
has forgotten to complete the address. Here
is one:
Phil Dickel, 25l7F
The clew by which the proper destination
of this letter was found seems queer but it is
reasonable. The writer began the address too
far to the left if he intended TO write 25l7 +
street, and as there is no such number on F
street in Washington. it was taken fol granted
lot, h.. b.l al
name and had forgotten to finish it There
are very few streets in the United States that
have 50 high a number as 25l1. Among them
is Franklin avenue, in Philadelphia, aid the
letter was sent there and found Mr.. Dickel
One of the best examples of this blind
reading" as it is called, is the following:
Miss Margares Jopline, No. 8 Calverly Parade,
Tunbri
This letter bore 4 five cent stamp. The III
ference of course was that it was destined for
some foreign Elace. 1t was sent 10 TunbridSe,
Wales which was where the writer intended
it to go.
One day letter came to the Office marked:
Mr.. Thomas Madden. St Francis River, Ark.
In care Of Bridge Waichman-
There is no such place rs st. Francis River
in Arkansas, and while the handwriting of
ILLS dtllIt>S WAS tluit' It's7iblt anu itdt, IL
seemed impossible to say where this letter
should 60. There is st. Francis river i'll
Arkansas, which is three or four hundred
miles long. Where the Memphis and Missouri
River railroad crosses il there is a notably
long bridge. The letter was sent to a watch
man on this bridge at venture. 1t proved
to b.e the right place.
Some addresses are found in the most ar
bitrary way imaginable \ letter addressed to
Il5i Anne st. New Jersey,
would have had a mighty poor chance of
reaching its destination had it not been
known III the office that Camden is the only
city in that state, out of eight that have
Anne streets, where the numbers run as high
As Il5l. The only Virginia street in New
York state is in Buffalo. Tie only Scher
merhorn street III the United States is in
Brooklyn; the only Hopper street in the
United States is in Utica. \ knowledge Of
these facts has saved many a letter from
destruction. OF course a knowledge Of
foreign languages is necessity with many Of
the employees of the dead letter Office. A let I
ter came there the other day addressed to
Cuyo Hueso, Fla.
This caused good deal Of study until clerk |
who knew Spanish looked ut it and recJg-
nized it as Cast ilar for Kew We |